Looping machine



June 25, 1963 s. l. BURD ETAL 3,094,954

LOOPING MACHINE Filed Feb. 12. 1960 FIG 2 FIG 6 SAMUEL l. BU RD JOHN G.LORD INVENTORS Unite States This invention relates to a looping machineof the type shown in United States Patent No. 2,828,707 issued to Ivsteron April 1, 1958 and in United States Patent No. 2,871,806 issued toBley, on February 3, 1959.

Conventional looping machines of this type are used for closing the toeopening of a seamless stocking, for looping the edge of a knit fabric,or for joining the edges of two pieces of fabric, etc.

As is well known in the art, and as will be seen from the patents abovementioned, a looping machine includes a rotary dial having peripheralfabric supporting points on which all of the stitches to be looped mustbe serially impaled, a cutter for removing the fabric above the loopingline, a needle for looping the stitches, and a chain cutter for severingthe sewing yarn. In order to prevent laddering of a knit fabric, orother defects, it is necessary that all of the stitches be seriallyimpaled on said supporting points. This is so difficult and timeconsuming that it takes several months of training to attain averageproficiency to insure moderately profitable operation. In fact, thelooping operation is responsible for a substantial fraction of the costof manufacture of looped articles and impaling the stitches on thesupporting points of the dial represents a major portion of the cost ofthe looping operation.

The object of this invention is to reduce the time and skill requiredfor irnpaling the stitches to be looped on the supporting points of thesewing dial.

A further object is to accomplish the desired result inexpensively andwith minimum modification of conventional looping machines.

These and other objects are attained by the invention as set forth inthe following specification and as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view of a sewing dial embodying theinvention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view looking in the direction of line 2-2 onFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View looking in thedirection of line 5 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing details of construction.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of a stocking or other fabricprovided with markings which guide the operator in impaling the stitcheson the points of the looping" dial.

FIG. 6 is a reduced, highly diagrammatic illustration of the upperportion of a stocking illustrating the location of loading points onwhich the fabric to be looped is first impaled.

Except for being modified, as hereinafter set forth, the looping machineillustrated is conventional in that it includes a sewing dial 10, acutter 12 for severing the fabric above the looping line, a loopingneedle 14 and a chain cutter, not shown. A conventional looping dial isprovided with peripheral supporting points which are of uniform length,or which extend uniformly radially of the dial and on which the stitchesto be looped are serially impaled by hand. This means that, if thecourse i of fabric to be looped, or to be joined to another course, has150 stitches, all of said stitches must be impaled, in serial order, on150 points.

In closing the toe opening of seamless stockings the stitches of twopieces of fabric have to be impaled with the corresponding stitches ofthe ice two pieces of fabric impaled on the same point. As stated,- thiscalls for a very high degree ofskill and because it is time consuming,the looping dial can only be rotated at a speed which is a function ofthe speed at which the stitches to be looped can be impaled ontheperipheral supporting points of the dial.

According to the present invention, the dial is provided with a ringgear 16 which is engaged by a pinion 18 on shaft 20 which is driven byany suitable gear train 22 which, in turn, is actuated by the shaft 24of a prime mover, not shown, which also reciprocates looping needle 14synchronously with the rotation of the dial. Since the manner in whichthis is done is old in the art and is not claimed, per se, as part ofthis invention, it is not shown nor described.

Instead of the uniformly projecting supporting points of theconventional looping dial, we provide the dial with points 26 whichproject radially outwardly of the dial to a predetermined extent andwith points 28 which fill the spaces between points 26 and which extendradially outwardly to a lesser extent than points 26, as best shown inFIG. 1. It is to be understood that, except for their different lengths,or the different extents to which they project beyond the periphery ofthe dial, points 26 and 28 are identical and may be conventional in thatthey co-act with looping needle 14 in the conventional manner. It willbe noted that points 26 are arranged in end groups A and B each of whichpreferably consists of from two to four points and intermediate groupsC, each of which preferably consists of one or two points. The number ofpoints in any group is optional in the sense that, within reasonablelimits, the number of points may be varied and the same is true of thenumber of groups C which will vary with the lengths of the courses to belooped. It is, however, of the essence of this invention that the numberof points 26 be always a minor fraction of the number of stitches in acourse to be looped.

For example, if the length of the course of fabric to be looped consistsof one hundred stitches, the number of points 26 should be less thanfifty, and, preferably, they should be in the neighborhood oftwenty-five. In other words, the number of points 26, which are the onlypoints on which the stitches are impaled manually, should be such as tosave at least one half of the time which would be required to impale allof the stitches, one by one, on an equal number of points so as topermit rotation of the dial at double the speed and thus double theproduction.

In practicing the invention, the operator impales the endmost fourstitches B of the fabric on points 26 of group B and, while the dial isrotating in the direction of the arrow, the operator successivelyimpales stitch groups C on point groups C and finally, the endmoststitches A are impaled on point group A.

It will be noted that the looping line may be marked by the introductionof an auxiliary yarn which forms a continuous marker, or by marks 27which are arranged in a formation which corresponds to the formation ofgroups A, C and B of points 26.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a stocking S1 in the process of being hung onpoints 26; two stockings 8-2 which have been fully hung on points 26,and a stocking 5-3 in the process of being hung on points 28 prior topassing cutter 12.

In order to impale the remaining stitches of a stocking in the positionof stockings S-2 on a corresponding number of intermediate points 28,the machine is provided with a pusher which includes a vertical blade 30adapted to enter between the points and a horizontal plate 32 whichengages and pushes the margin of fabric M above the looping lineinwardly of the dial, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. The pusher iscarried by one end 34 of a bell crank lever, the other end 36 of whichis pivoted at 38 to the dial.

End 34 of the bell crank lever is pivoted, at 40, to a rod 42 which isreciprocated by crank 44 on shaft 24. It will be noted that blade 30 isso oriented as to be in alignment with the spaces between successivepoints so as to push the yarn defining the stitches easily andaccurately between the points and thus impale the stitches formed bysaid yarn on the points.

It will be understood that the reciprocation of blade 30 is synchronizedwith the rotation of the dial so that the blade will enter the spacesbetween each pair of points without missing any of them. The action ofblade 30, combined with the engagement of plate 32 with the margin M ofthe fabric, above the supporting points, insures complete impalement onpoints 28 of all of the stitches which are not impaled on points 26 andpushes the stitches impaled on the outer portions of points 26 inwardlyof said points or into alignment with the stitches on points and,lastly, the operator impales the trailing groups of stitches A on groupsA of points 26. As the dial rot-ates, vertical blade and horizontalplate 32 coact to push the intermediate stitches onto points 28 and topush the stitches already impaled on points 26 inwardly of these points.

Because the operator has to impale a very small number of stitches onspaced, readily visible and accessible points, the impaling time isgreatly reduced and the dial can, therefore, be rotated at acorrespondingly increased speed. Experiments have shown that, in thestocking industry, the dial and the looping needle are both capable ofoperation at a speed much higher than they are presently operated, andthat this is due to the limitation inherent in manual impalement of allof the stitches of a course, which, in the case of the toe opening of aseamless stocking, number about 150 on each side of the opening.

In manually impaling all of the stitches on the points of a conventionalknitting machine, the operator first locates the endmost stitch in thecourse to be looped and impales it on a conventional point. Thereafter,the operator stretches the adjacent portion of the fabric (about oneinch span, more or less, at a time) and irnpales the stretched stitcheson corresponding points, and so on, until all of the stitches of thecourse are impaled. When two fabrics are to be joined, such as the twosides of the toe opening of a stocking, it is critical that thecorresponding stitches be impaled on the same points and, in the absenceof any indication, matching the stitches in one piece of fabric withthose of another is difficult and is responsible for a large number ofdefects. By the present invention, the marking of key stitches indicatesto the operator which stitches go on which points, thereby insuringbetter results regardless of whether a single, or double, thicknessfabric is to be looped. For example, by impaling stitches B on points B,stitches C on points C, and stitches A on points A, the remainingstitches of the course will be aligned with intervening points 28 so asto be consecutively impaled on these needles by blade 30 in the mannerset forth.

In order to prevent the fabric from sagging between point groups A, Cand B, and in order to insure that a stitch pushed by blade 30 will beimpaled on the intended corresponding point, even through the stitch maynot be in absolutely perfect, or dead center, alignment with itscorresponding point, provision is made to stretch the 'fabric lengthwiseof the course. This is done by spacing the outermost or end stitches ofthe points calculated to receive a course a distance slightly greaterthan the length of the course, measured when the course is flat andrelaxed. Also the intermediate groups of long points C are spaced fromeach other in like manner. For example, the distance between the endmostpoints of groups A and B is greater than the length of the course sothat when one end stitch of a course is impaled on the endmost stitch ofgroup A and the opposite end stitch of the course is impaled on theendmost stitch of group B, all the intermediate stitches of the coursewill be somewhat stretched. This efiect is increased when intermediatestitches of the course are impaled on the spaced pairs of points ofgroup C. Stretching the stitches of the course insures the impalement ofstitches on corresponding points, even though the stitches may not be indead center registration with said points. Also, stretching of thefabric as a whole and the impalement of intermediate groups of stitchesof the points of group C prevents or minimizes sagging so that when theremaining unimpaled stitches of the course are pushed against the shortpoints 28, all of the stitches will be impaled and will be in a positionto be sewed together. While the spacing of the groups of points relativeto the fabric may be varied according to the gauge of the machine, thedenier of the yarn, and the tension under which the yarn is knit, it hasbeen found that a ratio of about sixteen to fifteen is satisfactory inconnection with the looping of the opening of a stocking. This meansthat, if fifteen stitches of a stocking fabric span fifteen units oflength, the fifteen points on which said stitches are to he impaled willspan sixteen units of said length so that the portion of fabrip formedby said fifteen stitches will be stretched and each of the stitches willbe more widely open than if the span covered .by said stitches wereequal to the span covered by said points.

What we claim is:

l. A looping machine comprising a sewing dial, 7

' stitch supporting points which project radially and horizontally fromthe periphery of said dial and on which all of the stitches of thecourses of fabric to be sewed are adapted to be serially impaled, saidsupporting points including spaced end points for receiving end stitchesof said courses and intermediate points for receiving the intermediatestitches of said courses, said spaced points projecting to a' greaterextent than saidinter-mediate points.

' 2. A rotary sewing dial including spaced, circumferentially spacedgroups of end stitches of the courses of fabric to be sewed and anintermediate group of consecutive stitch supporting points for receivingthe inter-mediate stitches of said courses, the points of said endgroups projecting outwardly to a greater distance than the points ofsaid intermeidate groups, a guard covering the points of saidintermediate groups and the corresponding portions of the points of saidspaced groups as they move through a predetermined arc whereby only theouter portions of the points of said spaced groups project beyond theedge of said guard and are accessible for manual impalement thereon ofthe stitches of said end groups thereby to align the intermediatestitches of said courses with the points of said intermediate groups,means for rotating said dial to move all of said points away from saidguard, a pusher for mechanically moving the stitches of said end groupsfurther inwardly of their respective points and for impaling saidintermediate stitches on the points of said intermediate groups, andmeans for actuating said pusher synchronously with the rotation of saiddial.

3. The structure recited in claim 2 in which the distance between theendmost points of said end groups for the length of said course,measured in relaxed condition,

whereby impalement of the endmost stitches of said course on saidendmost points stretches said intermediate stitches and aligns them withthe points of said intermediate groups.

4. A rotary sewing dial including spaced peripheral, radially projectingpoints adapted to receive the corresponding stitches of the courses offabric to be sewed, said courses being spaced from the margin of thefabric, a pusher for impaling said stitches on said points, said push-erincluding a relatively narrow member engageable with the yarn formingthe stitches and movable inward-1y and outwardly in the spaces betweensaid points, and a horizontal member which is eng-ageable with themarginal fabric above said points to push said marginal fabric inwardlyradially of said points, and means for rotating said dial and forsynchronously reciprocating said pusher.

5. A machine for joining the corresponding stitches of two courses ofknit fabric, said machine including a sewing dial,

stitch supporting points projecting radially from said dial and on whichall of the stitches of said courses are adapted to be serially impaled,

said supporting points consisting of at least two end groups ofconsecutive points for receiving corresponding groups of stitches at theopposite ends of said courses, and at least one intermediate group ofpoints located between said groups for receiving the intermediatestitches of said courses, the free ends of the points of said end groupsbeing at a greater distance from the periphery of said dial than thepoints of said intermediate group. 6. The structure recited in claim 5and a pusher including a first blade adapted to enter between adjacentsupporting points to push adjoining stitch onto the corresponding pointsand a second blade for simultaneously engaging the margin of fabricabove said points and pushing it radially inwardly of said points. 7.The structure recited in claim 5 and at least one additional group ofpoints spaced from, and located between, said end group, the outer endsof the points of said additional group being located at the samedistance from the periphery of the dial as the outer ends of the pointsof said end groups.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS400,062 Davis et al Mar. 26, 1889 1,672,021 Cohen June 5, 1928 2,548,234Oliver Apr. 10, 1951 2,632,414 Lomax et al Mar. 24, 1953 2,948,240 Burdet al. Aug. 9, 1960

1. A LOOPING MACHINE COMPRISING A SEWING DIAL, STITCH SUPPORTING POINTSWHICH PROJECT RADIALLY AND HORIZONTALLY FROM THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DIALAND ON WHICH ALL OF THE STITCHES OF THE COURSES OF FABRIC TO BE SEWEDARE ADAPTED TO BE SERIALLY IMPALED, SAID SUPPORTING POINTS INCLUDINGSPACED END POINTS FOR RECEIVING END STITCHES OF SAID COURSES ANDINTERMEDIATE POINTS FOR RECEIVING THE INTERMEDIATE STITCHES OF SAIDCOURSES, SAID SPACED POINTS PROJECTING TO A GREATER EXTENT THAN SAIDINTERMEDIATE POINTS.